Alas while I am good at having ideas I am awful at realizing them
Dobrev, do you know "fantasy general", the game I mentioned earlier? It's an old classic to which fantasy wars and elven legacy pay plain homage, but the hand-drawn illustrations of the units were very similar to those of KB during loading screens, either the artist took inspiration or it's the very same guy.
Anyway, FG had the perfect arena implementation.
However, it's true things could go quite competitive. I joined the on-line tournaments for one year in 2002 and came up number two, but then due to work-related issues I lost contact. I sometimes wonder if people I knew back then with their pseudonyms are currently playing the KB series...